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PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A massive, coordinated strategy to merchantability mendacious and fraudulent nursing grade credentials has been brought down by a associated national instrumentality enforcement operation, Justice Department officials said Wednesday.
As archetypal reported by ABC News, officials said the strategy progressive peddling much than $100 cardinal worthy of bogus nursing diplomas and transcripts implicit the people of respective years -- fake credentials that were sold to assistance "thousands of people" instrumentality "shortcuts" toward becoming licensed, practicing nurses.
Officials said the forged diplomas and transcripts were sold from what had been accredited schools to aspiring nurses, successful bid to assistance candidates bypass the qualifying requirements indispensable to beryllium for the nationalist nursing committee exam. Although they inactive had to instrumentality the exam, the bogus credentials allowed them to skip captious steps of the competency and licensure process, officials said -- and erstwhile licensed, those individuals were capable to find a occupation successful the wellness attraction field.
Overall, the conspiracy progressive the organisation of implicit 7,600 fake nursing diplomas and certificates issued by Florida-based nursing programs, according to officials.
"This is astir apt 1 of the astir brazen schemes that I've seen. And it does daze the mind," Omar Perez Aybar, Special Agent successful Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), told ABC News successful an exclusive interview.
The sweeping enforcement enactment spanned 5 states: Florida, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Delaware, and resulted successful much than 2 twelve transgression ligament fraud and ligament fraud conspiracy charges against 25 individuals.
Among those charged see Stanton Witherspoon and Alfred Sellu of Burlington County, NJ. Officials said Witherspoon was the laminitis of the Nursing Education Resource Center (NERC), a Delaware constricted liability institution located successful Newport. Sellu was employed by the NERC.
"The indictment alleges that Witherspoon, Sellu, and (another defendant) solicited and recruited individuals who sought nursing credentials to summation employment arsenic an RN oregon LPN/VN. It is alleged that these defendants arranged with (Eugene) Sanon, who managed Siena College and is charged by accusation with ligament fraud conspiracy, to make and administer mendacious and fraudulent diplomas and transcripts. These fake documents represented that the aspiring RN and LPN/VN candidates had attended Siena College's nursing programme successful Broward County and completed the indispensable courses and clinicals to get RN oregon LPN/VN diplomas. In fact, the aspiring nurses ne'er completed the indispensable courses and clinical," national officials said.
We "expect our wellness attraction professionals to beryllium who they assertion they are. Specifically erstwhile we speech astir a nurse's education, and credentials - shortcut is not a connection we privation to use," said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe. "When we instrumentality an injured lad oregon girl to a infirmary exigency room, we don't expect -- truly cannot ideate -- that the licensed applicable caregiver oregon registered caregiver grooming our kid took a shortcut."
HHS-OIG, the FBI and Justice Department worked jointly connected the operation, dubbed "Operation Nightingale," successful grant of Florence Nightingale, the laminitis of modern nursing.
Investigating agents spent weeks combing done upwards of 10,000 records from nursing schools to determination the probe forward. "As we started to poke done them we noticed determination were nary existent courses the individuals took -- it was simply a currency mill," Aybar said.
Nursing candidates who allegedly participated successful the strategy would wage arsenic overmuch arsenic $15,000 for the fraudulent diplomas, officials said.
The defendants see "owners, operators and employees" of the schools who "prepared and sold fake nursing schoolhouse diplomas and transcripts to nursing candidates, knowing that the candidates would usage those mendacious documents to one, beryllium for nursing committee examinations, unafraid nursing licenses, and 3 yet get nursing jobs successful aesculapian facilities -- not lone successful Florida, but elsewhere crossed the country," Lapointe said. All 3 schools person since closed, according to officials. Additional defendants charged see "recruiters" to bring successful would-be buyers.
The alleged strategy enabled these nursing candidates allegedly buying the fake diplomas "to debar hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of objective grooming -- countless hours getting that experience," Lapointe said. "These radical didn't spell done that. That portion was wholly skipped."
"For them, it was worthy the investment, oregon the risk," Aybar told ABC News.
For those progressive -- "the owners of the nursing schools, surely the recruiters and, without doubt, the recipients of the transcripts and the nursing diplomas" -- Aybar said, "It was decidedly each motivated by greed."
Federal instrumentality enforcement officials underscored the precocious stakes of the scheme, saying that it perchance jeopardized patients' wellness and information -- and that standards for harmless nursing attraction cannot beryllium purchased -- lone learned.
"What is disturbing astir the strategy is the anticipation of harm coming to patients nether the dubious attraction of 1 of these allegedly fraudulent nurses," acting Special Agent successful Charge Chad Yarbrough, FBI Miami, said.
In the indictments, national instrumentality enforcement officials alleged that the defendants -- immoderate successful enactment roles astatine nursing schools -- "solicited and recruited individuals who sought nursing credentials to summation employment arsenic Registered Nurses (RN) oregon Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurses (LPN/VN)," past arranged with co-conspirators "to make and administer mendacious and fraudulent diplomas and transcripts" to falsely correspond that the aspiring nurses had attended the programme and had completed the indispensable courses to person a diploma, erstwhile "in fact, the aspiring nurses had ne'er really completed the indispensable courses and clinical."
Aybar said 1 of the ways officials were alerted to the alleged strategy was erstwhile the Florida authorities auditing process discovered mediocre passing rates astatine 3 nursing schools.
Alleged participants successful the strategy backdated the diplomas and transcripts they were selling, to marque them look legitimate, authorities said. Applicants would usage those forged diplomas, transcripts and further records to get licensure successful assorted states -- then, erstwhile licensed, applicants could past usage those fraudulent documents to get nursing jobs "with unwitting wellness attraction providers passim the country," according to officials.
Officials said they had "not learned of, nor uncovered immoderate grounds of diligent harm stemming from these individuals perchance providing services to patients" -- but it was the imaginable for that harm to patients that was precisely the concern.
Aybar said that is why, from the onset of the investigation, authorities person been moving with authorities licensing boards to stock arsenic overmuch accusation arsenic they could, arsenic accelerated arsenic they could, truthful the respective boards "can measure what actions to instrumentality to forestall these individuals from rendering care."
The enactment by national instrumentality enforcement comes astatine a important infinitesimal successful the wellness attraction industry, wherever an existing caregiver shortage, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has near galore nursing staffs dispersed bladed and burnt out.
"I'm assured that determination volition beryllium a level of accountability that each of these individuals volition face," Aybar said.
Defendants successful the alleged scheme, if convicted, look a statutory maximum of 20 years successful jailhouse for the charges of ligament fraud and ligament fraud conspiracy, the DOJ said.
Aybar pointed to the pledge of morals and principles that nurses take, called the "Nightingale Pledge."
"They pledge that they're going to abstain from immoderate deleterious act. They volition bash each successful their powerfulness to heighten and grant the profession. Clearly, these individuals did not bash that here," helium said.
"We recognize that this behaviour has nary reflection connected the hard enactment and dedication that [nurses] enactment into making this assemblage honorable, and truthful convey you for that," Aybar added. "I promote those of you -- if you're successful a mounting and you hap to person idiosyncratic that whitethorn not beryllium practicing up to the standards arsenic you recognize it, possibly if you spot something, accidental something."
Officials said that astatine this constituent it is up to the authorities licensing boards to propulsion guardant with enactment against those individuals nether their purview -- immoderate of whom person been practicing nursing "somewhere successful the United States, possibly currently," Lapointe said.
"We cognize who they are," Lapointe said.
"Not lone is this a nationalist information issue, but it besides tarnishes the estimation of nurses who really did the hard objective and coursework required to get licenses and jobs," Lapointe said. "And of course, erodes the centuries-old spot we person built with our country's nurses."
ABC News' Luke Barr contributed to this report.
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